Bajaj Finance net rises 61% to Rs 721 crore

Consumption is back, says Rajeev Jain, MD of Bajaj Finance, as his company came up with another stellar performance with high growth across its lending portfolio.

Rajeev Jain, MD, Bajaj Finance.

Consumption is back, says Rajeev Jain, MD of Bajaj Finance, as his company came up with another stellar performance with high growth across its lending portfolio. Bajaj Finance reported a 61% growth in PAT for Q4FY18 to Rs 721 crore. Total income for the quarter was up 33% to Rs 3,557 crore. Net interest income was up 40% to Rs 2,365 crore. While there are some worries on the macro front, Jain expects the micro situation to be positive and help Bajaj Finance maintain growth and look at FY19 with greater optimism.

Loan losses and provisions for Q4FY18 was marginally lower at Rs 274 crore. The company also reported lower gross NPA and net NPA to 1.48% and 0.38% respectively. Provisioning coverage ratio stood at 75% as of 31 March 2018. The company’s new loans booked during Q4FY18 increased by 51% to 3.78 million. Consumer lending grew by 44% to Rs 36,730 crore while SME lending went up 19% to Rs 25,320 crore. Commercial lending was up 57% to Rs 12,375 crore and rural lending had doubled to Rs 6,019 crore.

Jain said the firm had a pretty strong quarter with the credit quality at its best. The growth was well rounded and granular coming from across their geographical footprints. The micro indicators were improving and discretionary consumption and spending has shown improvement post the demonetisation and GST rollout.

The Q4FY18 performance provides a stronger platform for growth in next fiscal. Jain expects to continue the growth into FY19. “Now everything is back on track and we are better placed to manage the macro headwinds,” Jain said.

On the macro front, the deteriorating rupee, rising crude prices leading to inflation did worry them but this was likely to impact the lower margin business rather than the higher margin business, Jain said. “Now everything is back on track and we are better placed to manage the macro headwinds,” Jain added.

Following Q4FY18 results, the Bajaj Finance stock that opened at Rs 1,918 went on to hit the 52-week high of Rs 2,088.80 before closing at Rs 2,067.25 , a gain of 7.75% on the BSE on Thursday.

For FY18, the company ended the year with a 44% growth in PAT to Rs 2,647 crore. Total income for FY18 was up by 33% to Rs 13,329 crore. Loan losses and provisions for FY18 were Rs 1,030 crore as against Rs 804 crore in FY17.

Consolidated AUM was at Rs 84,033 crore as on March 31, 2018,which was a growth of 33%. Bajaj Housing Finance Limited, a 100% housing finance subsidiary of Bajaj Finance, become fully operational from February 2018. Its AUM as of 31 Mar 2018 stood at Rs 3,589 crore.